MEASHA BRUEGGERGOSMAN: SURPRISE !

By Patricia Boccadoro

PARIS, 4 NOVEMBER 2008 - "Surprise !", after a
song of the same name by William Bolcom, is the title of the
first album for Deutsche Grammophon made by the charismatic
young Canadian soprano, Measha Brueggergosman, and it's a
surprise in more ways than one. First, for those who have never
heard her sing, there is the excitement of the discovery of
her big lyric voice, rich, warm, and distinct from any other.
Then, for those who have already heard her singing in
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony*, for example, and think they know
what to expect, there is the discovery of another Measha who
dares to risk contemporary songs, with works by Schoenberg and
Satie as well as Bolcom and written for cabaret rather than
the more classical repertoire expected of her.

During her recital at the Theatre de L'Atelier in mid-October
to introduce her debut album, she flirted with the world of
music-hall, also including songs by Ravel, Poulenc, and Montsalvatge,
singing in 4 different languages, being equally at ease in
German, Spanish, English and French.

"I particularly wanted to sing in French for my first recital
in Paris and share my joy of this music with my audience", she
told me after the concert, her dark eyes sparkling with warmth
and excitement. "I also love William Bolcom's songs and wanted
to sing something in which I was totally at ease and completely
myself. I think cabaret is a way of expressing oneself in a
more casual context than opera. The nature of it is so very
intimate. Moreover," she explained, "I think there are stories
to be told through cabaret that are unique, tales that are like
small snapshots of poetry that we wouldn't have access to
otherwise. That's what attracts me to it."

The choice of music both on her recording and the recital,
were, she insisted, absolutely her own.

The soprano, now 31, who continues to sing barefooted with her
two feet planted firmly on the ground, has matured and gained a
greater sophistication and assurance since her earlier
appearances in Europe, at the Festival of
Verbier, when, after taking master classes with Thomas Quasthoff,
she was invited back the following year for a recital which
included lieder and Gospel.

Since then, she has appeared in such prestigious venues as the
Tanglewood Festival, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie's Recital
Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and with Michael Tilson Thomas and
the San Francisco Symphony. Operatic debuts include appearances
as Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Dialogues des
Carmelites, while this last year has seen her sing with
the La Scala Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim. French
audiences will be happy to learn that after a North American
recital tour in November and December, she will be returning to
Paris towards the end of the year.

She will be singing Recital for Cathy , composed by
Luciano Berio in 1972, for her appearance at the Cité de la
Musique in Paris on Friday, November 28th.

* Measha Brueggergosman's orchestral
debut recording on the Yellow Label, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Most was released
last year.